I build one rod a year in the Wintertine. I'm not in any rush and feel comfortable with my hand wrapper.

I've got one on back order, should be here any day so we shall see. If anything, I think it will help the finishing aspect of it. As far as hand wrapping, if it doesn't bother your wrist, you can get very efficient at it. Under wraps are a pain though. I think learning by hand is the way to go until you've mastered it, then add a wrapper down the road.

All wraps are started and finished (tied-off) by hand. Whether or not you need to power wrap depends on the length of the section between the start and finish.

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i never built a salt water rod or used under wraps but if i did only one a month i think i could do it by hand even if it took an hour to wrap one guide..i,m in no hurry, not anymore..lol.

"I'm in no hurry, not anymore..lol"




You would think the older you get the faster you need to get things done since the time you got left is dwindling . I heard a comedian say senior citizens should forget the posted speed limits and drive at the speed of their current age , if you're 80 you should drive at 80 mph , 90 then do 90 mph .

All older people should have high horsepower power wrappers . It's the youngsters who have all the time in the world .

"shortest guide wraps"?!! Bravo. This is a prime feature of a fishing rod, as opposed to a display rod.

Chris, that,s funny..i don,t drive any more becauuse of my eyes..my nephew takes me any place i need to go..isay Ed slow down and he says i,m doing the speed limit, don,t yoy see everybody is passing us,,lol. all the years i drove i nevergot a speeding ticket..i never liked moving fast..during one of performance reviews when i used to work my boss said, ben you do outstanding work but when your walking could you move a little faster..i said Ernie, i walk slow because i,m thinking, about what to do next..lol.actually i was trying to figure where to go fishing when i got off..lol.

Chris, that,s funny..i don,t drive any more becauuse of my eyes..my nephew takes me any place i need to go..isay Ed slow down and he says i,m doing the speed limit, don,t yoy see everybody is passing us,,lol. all the years i drove i nevergot a speeding ticket..i never liked moving fast..during one of performance reviews when i used to work my boss said, ben you do outstanding work but when your walking could you move a little faster..i said Ernie, i walk slow because i,m thinking, about what to do next..lol.actually i was trying to figure where to go fishing when i got off..lol.

You can do a Tiger Wrap much faster with a powered wrapper but there is no way I can use power on a weave, but I don't do them anyway. There is definitely a learning curve on a power wrapper. The thing that I found the most helpful was to adjust the potted (Potentiometer speed controller) controller speed to move slow to fast in a longer foot peddle motion so you can control the speed better. There is a sweet spot or setting.

Modified Flex-Coat SW-1 on my kitchen / dining room table. I can make everything disappear in just a few minutes if need be. Small Batson dryer sits on the wrapper base so that both wrapper and dryer occupy the same footprint.

Roger I am very interested in being able to control the motor speed to be able to run at a slow constant speed for finishing and drying. I just replaced the foot pedal with a Lucas Lowboy and it offers very smooth speed control if I could slow the motor speed range both foot and constant speed control would be the best of all worlds

I've only wrapped by hand. I am probably 15 rods deep over 6 years but can't justify the cost for the little building that I do. If I was building 20 or 30 a year than I would consider a power wrapper.

I have built over 130 rods since starting this hobby, every one hand wrapped. I bought a used power wrapper from this site many years ago and still have not set it up, no room for it. I am completely satisfied wrapping by hand, I don't think I am missing anything. I make my living working with my hands and that translates over to rodbuilding easily for me. As mentioned above I am in total control. The gentleman that took time to teach me hand wrapped too, maybe that has something to do with it, IDK.

Steve

When I first started building, I built maybe 3 rods a year. All for personal use. I used a hand wrapper that I built myself, As I got more into building I went to a power wrapper. Not so much for wrapping guides, but for use as a lathe and to make applying finish a little more efficient. Now I build maybe 1 or 2 rods a year, and still like having the versatility that a power wrapper offers.

I am lucky in that I have a room in my house that is for my rod building, and my computer. I never have to take my wrapper down to store it. I have it sitting on an 8' table, but even if did have to take it down, it would still be quicker to set up than my old hand wrapper, and the adjust ability of the rod stands really makes wrapping, (for me) much easier. Especially when I get to the tip section of the rod.

David,
Depending on your room, you may consider the use of a wall mounted shelf to store your wrapper when not being used. In my case, my wrapper bed is a 10 foot long piece of channel. Fortunately, I have a wall in the work shop that has a wall long enough for a full wall length shelf. When I am not using the wrapper, I just set it up on the shelf out of the way. It only takes a few minutes to take it down and have it ready for the next project. For the shelf, I use used heavy duty shelf supports mounted to wall studs in the wall

Best wishes

a guide wrap done on a hand wrapper is stronger than one done on a machine because you can make more wraps per guide..

Ben,
A good thought.
Thanks for posting.

Roger



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/03/2021 07:48PM by roger wilson.

Hi Roger, what you say is correct but the experts on u-tube do not see the value of packing the thread wraps when using a wrapping machine..but they use such high winding tension so they probably can,t pack if they wanted to and if you don,t pack your not going to get as many wraps on the guide foot..it,s not wrap tension that makes for strong guide wraps but the number of wraps that you get onto the foot that makes strong guide wraps and packing makes room for more wraps..the smaller guides you use the more important the number of wraps on a guide become..one of the big selling points for a machine is speed so there is no time for packing every three or four wraps even if they could.

I began building rods in 1968 by reading Dale Clemons book "Fiberglass Rod Building" There was no such thing as a power wrapper back then, or even hand wrapping stands, so I learned to wrap freehand. My thread tension was running the thread out through 1 phone book and back through another, (placing additional weight on the books if I needed more tension. I continued building with these simple tools for 51 years, but then my wife bought me a CRB 4-spool thread carriage from Mudhole so I could retire my phone books (which I still have as a backup) I tried wrapping with the stands but prefer the control I have without them. I now teach kids to wrap rods without spending a lot of money on tools, I call it the seat-of-the-pants method. After building something over 600 rods, I don't feel it is necessary to spend the money on a power wrapper.

i like that "by the seat of the pants method" Richard.. now when someone asks if i use a wrapping machine, i can say i use the seat of the pants method..lol.